Iraq

Lord West of Spithead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether Iraqi naval officers are still being trained at Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth; and how many have trained there to date.

Lord Astor of Hever: Iraqi naval officers continue to be trained at Britannia Royal Naval College. Records indicate that 36 individuals have received training there over the last 10 years.

Iraq

Lord West of Spithead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the Royal Navy ceased mentoring the Iraqi navy at Umm Qasr; and for how many years they undertook that role.

Lord Astor of Hever: The UK-Iraq Training and Maritime Support Agreement entered into force on 22 November 2009, it came to an end on 22 May 2011.

Mediterranean Sea

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what naval or air-sea rescue contribution they will make to prevent refugees and migrants drowning in the Mediterranean.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns: We do not support planned search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean. We believe that they create an unintended “pull factor”, encouraging more migrants to attempt the dangerous sea crossing and thereby leading to more tragic and unnecessary deaths. The Government believes the most effective way to prevent refugees and migrants attempting this dangerous crossing is to focus our attention on countries of origin and transit, as well as taking steps to fight the people smugglers who wilfully put lives at risk by packing migrants into unseaworthy boats.

Military Aircraft

Lord West of Spithead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Astor of Hever on 26 September (HL1820), how many ex-Nimrod aircrews are still serving in maritime patrol aircraft appointments worldwide; and how many are flying in other roles in the United Kingdom.

Lord Astor of Hever: There are currently 32 personnel deployed overseas in Maritime Patrol Aircraft roles under the Seedcorn initiative with a further seven on traditional exchange programmes. 115 personnel are currently operating in other flying roles in the UK.

Probation

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many contracts they have entered into on the same or similar basis as the proposed contracts with private sector providers of the probation service, containing penal clauses requiring 100 per cent compensation in the event of cancellation.

Lord Faulks: In this instance to provide you with the information you ask would exceed the disproportionate cost threshold. Individual contract managers would need to search through hundreds of contract files to confirm whether the clauses in each one of their contracts are on the same or a similar basis to the clauses within the draft Transforming Rehabilitation contracts.
	I can however tell you that voluntary termination is a standard clause in government contracts which is designed to provide flexibility for government while maintaining the balance of value for money for the tax payer.
	Voluntary termination compensation would only be payable to the contractor if a contract is terminated through no fault of the contractor.

Railways: Electrification

Lord Berkeley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Kramer on 15 September (HL1794 and HL1795), since 1 June 2014 how many meetings have been held between (1) the Department for Transport and Network Rail, and (2) the Department for Transport and the Office of Rail Regulation, to discuss the costs of the electrification schemes.

Baroness Kramer: The Department attends a number of meetings with both Network Rail and the Office of Rail Regulation across various levels with a broad agenda. These include costs, deliverability, construction synergies and scope of works. Electrification schemes and related issues are often discussed.

Welfare Assistance Schemes

Lord Bassam of Brighton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on local authorities, families, charities and vulnerable individuals of ending local welfare assistance in April 2015.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they are taking to help local authorities to continue to offer discretionary support schemes following the decision to end local welfare assistance.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to reconsider the date by which local welfare assistance is due to end in the light of the delays to the roll-out of Universal Credit.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: This issue is under review, I refer the noble Lord to the attached consultation paper on local welfare provision published by HM Government on 10 October 2014. I have placed a copy in the Library of the House.

Welfare Assistance Schemes

Baroness King of Bow: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the terms of reference of the review into the impact of the abolition of funding for local welfare assistance schemes.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: There has been no abolition of funding for local welfare schemes. From 2015/16 there was going to be no specific grant but we are looking again at how the funding is provided in
	2015/16. The Department for Work and Pensions are carrying out a review into how the funds in 2013/14 have been used. I refer the noble Lady to the comments of my noble Friend the Lord De Mauley of 25 January 2012 during the debate on the Welfare Reform Act 2012. He said,
	“Following the introduction of localised assistance, the department has already made plans to conduct a review in 2014-15 to obtain appropriate information from a representative cross-section of at least 50 local authorities, which represents one-third of the total, in order to help inform future funding levels. We have committed to using this opportunity to gather further information about the way in which local authorities have used the funding.”

West Africa

Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have made an assessment of the economic effects of the Ebola outbreak on Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns: The Ebola outbreak has significantly affected the agriculture, tourism and services sectors of the Sierra Leonean and Liberian economies. Mining has also been affected, though to a lesser extent. As a result, the World Bank has reduced growth forecasts in Sierra Leone and Liberia by 3.3 percentage points (pp) and 3.4pp respectively. Reports also indicate rising inflation.
	If the virus is not contained, productivity in Sierra Leone and Liberia will soon start to suffer a longer term decline likely to see decreases in foreign direct investment as planned investments are deferred.